Sunday, June 24, 2012

Name That Skirt!

The Basklecloth Skirt?

The TableStArc Skirt?

The BobbieShams Skirt?

Here's the back story: I was cleaning up the sewing room, after the multi-project flurry of late, and came across my first (failed) attempt at shams' Tablecloth Skirt. I had cut the waist hole too large. WAY too large. It was sort of throw-away fabric; I'm not sure where it came from, but I think it might have been part of a free FabricMart bundle. It's a very light weight crinkle plaid - almost a voile.

I looked at the black in the plaid, and looked at the black modal knit I've been working with, and one of those oddly shaped light bulbs in the brain started flickering...and I found myself thinking "Frankenpattern!"

I took the pattern pieces for the bask from Style Arc's Bobbie Bask and sewed it up using the black modal, and then married it to my failed tablecloth plaid. Since I was combining a stretch with a woven, I wasn't sure how well it would work, so I wanted to get those two pieces together before deciding if a) it was worth continuing, and b) if rectangles of the modal would work on the bottom edge or if I should find another option.

The Bask, sewn, and the cut "tablecloth" square.For reference, I'm about 5'4"; hips at the widest point are about 38",and the Bobbie Bask pattern is a 10.This slides easily on and off.

Here's the skirt before adding the bottom rectangles:

Looking good so far!

Since the circle of the center hold in the plaid is mostly on the bias, it was easy to give it a bit of a taut hold while sewing it to the stretch modal, so the seam blends together quite nicely. As an afterthought, I wanted to add a hidden pocket. If I had planned this ahead of time, I would have given the modal more stretch in the pocket seam area, with less plaid fabric, because I had a bit of a baggy result at the top of the pocket. I solved this by adding a snap:

The pocket is nicely hidden under the folds of the bask

Just big enough for a cell phone or some necessary odds 'n ends :)

Everything was working well, so I went ahead and added a strip of modal at the bottom. The rectangles are 40" long, matching the width of the plaid square, and the finished depth is 5.5". This makes the "points" at the corners of the skirt less pronounced....I do like them a bit more dramatic, but this skirt was an experiment, and I didn't want it to be any longer than it is.

Sewing the modal to the cotton at the bottom edge was a bit tricker than the circle above. By using "taut sewing", giving the cotton a bit of a tug while feeding it through, and placing the modal on the bottom, above the feed dogs, they went together quite well. I'm loving working with, and wearing, modal! It has a good amount of stretch, but I would consider it a fairly stable knit, and it has great recovery. So far it's behaved itself very nicely when marrying it to other fabrics, both knits and wovens. A good press took care of any waviness.

All in all, a successful experiment!

I even have a lovely periwinkle blue raw silk that's a perfect match for the blue in the skirt, so it's destined to be a matching top :)

So....what DO I call this concoction? Have you Frankenpatterned lately, and was it good for you too?

Having a dream of what I want to create is wonder-filled....having a finished product that makes me (and you) smile is delightful.....being aware of what's happening during the creative process is priceless.